


Altered States

by adeclanfan



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-01-27
Packaged: 2017-11-27 02:08:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/656899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adeclanfan/pseuds/adeclanfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternate universe to the Elizabethverse!</p><p>Premise – What if Elizabeth and her twin had never been separated in the orphanage, or seen by Helen Magnus. Beth was never adopted by James Watson. What if they grew up together in the Moscow orphange and didn't meet Helen Magnus until they were adults and using their special abilities to work for the Moscow Sanctuary. Magnus has notified the head of house of the Moscow sanctuary that it and the school and orphange must be closed. Everyone must move to other locations, and nobody is happy. </p><p>The girls names have been changed to Russian names.</p><p>Elenya - Victoria<br/>Anya – Elizabeth</p><p>(ps it's not typos it's a Russian accent ;-) )</p>
            </blockquote>





	Altered States

========

Anya was listening to the lungs of a toddler with the flu when she heard the sounds of feminine shoes on linoleum. Her back stiffened when the footfalls stopped just outside the door instead of just coming in. Whoever the visitor was, she was listening. 

“It's alright, Sergei,” she cooed to her little patient, “you're doing much better. You vere such a good boy. Have this lollipop and go back to mama, now.”

The toddler snatched the vitamin c and zinc infused sweet from her hand and took off like a shot. Anya watched him barrel past a tall, dark haired woman. 

It took a minute for her to recognize Helen Magnus, Head of the Sanctuary network. They'd never spoken face to face or been formally introduced. 

Under the circumstances, Anya didn't want to be introduced. This was the bitch who was closing the special needs orphanage she'd been volunteering her time at for years; and the school for abnormal children where Anya worked as resident pediatrician. 

Magnus' hasty decisions in America cut off crucial funding from world governments, and they had no choice but to close down. 

Their eyes met, and Anya kept her face expressionless. She would not make the first move. 

“Dr. Timova?”

Anya looked Magnus over from heels to hair, quite rudely. Slowly, she said, “da.”

“My name is Helen Magnus,” she offered a manicured hand, but Anya didn't take it. 

With a frown, Anya turned her back on Magnus and walked over to rip the paper off the exam table and toss it into the waste can with more force than was necessary, then she moved to the sink to wash her hands. A rude gesture, but it was better than doing what Anya really wanted to do, and that was slapping the other woman's face, hard.

Magnus spoke in fluent Russian, “I understand you're upset because we must close the school and the orphanage, but the closures are necessary and I can assure you the children will be much better off in the long run.”

“Are you a fortune teller, then? I've newer heard that about you. You can see their futures and know they vill be better off?” Anya snorted, incredulous. Her words had a stacatto bite to each syllable. “This is the only home these children haf ewer known. The only family they know are the staff and other children. Scattering them to the vind like dandelion seeds vill destroy some of them.” 

Magnus looked surprised by her vehemence. “We don't have a facility large enough to hold all the children in one location at this time...”

Anya glared at her. “Maybe if you hadn't turned the vorld against our kind...”

“I didn't turn anyone against our kind. The world has always been hostile to beings who are different from them. I had to sever the ties with the governments for our safety; To them, we are no better than the insurgents from Hollow Earth. They will use all of the knowledge we have collected over the years to enslave us. Or destroy us.”

“So, you closing down all the Sanctuaries is to vhat, save us from them?” Anya stood toe to toe with Magnus, now, glaring up at her. “Vee ver doing fine before you did this...”

Magnus met her glare and sighed, “I wish that were true. I'm sorry, but there was no other course of action I could take.”

“Vhy are you here?” Anya demanded. “Vhat do you vant from me?”

“We need an experienced pediatrician to join our team at the London Sanctuary. We have several babies on the way, and at least half of the children from the facilities here are going into a temporary safe house in London. You would be a familiar face, someone they trust. It might make the transition easier for them.”

“Niet.”

“What will you do here with your position closed?” Helen asked, seriously. “It makes perfect sense for you to move to London...”

“I said no,” Anya snapped, flustered into using English. “Vhat I do is none of your concern.”

Magnus' lips quirked, like she just figured out a puzzle. “I'm sorry you feel that way.”

Just as Magnus finished speaking, Elenya swept into the room. “Dr. Magnus! Helen! I heard you were here.”

The two women embraced briefly, and Elenya was beaming, which was a rare reaction for her usually solemn twin. Another point against Helen Magnus in Anya's book.

“Yes, I was just offering your sister a temporary position at the London Sanctuary. We could use a pediatrician with experience in helping abnormal children.”

Elenya turned to Anya, “you are going to London, aren't you, Anya?”

“Don't be ridiculous. This is my home. I'm not leaving Moscow.”

That made Elenya raise her eyebrows in surprise. “Why not? You've traveled before...”

Anya glared at her sister. “You know vhy, Elenya, and it is not something I wish to discuss in front of strangers.” She gave Magnus a contemptous glance and started walking toward the door, “I have other patients to see to.”

Behind her, she could hear Elenya making apologies to Magnus for her rudeness. 

Anya gritted her teeth in frustration. 

Elenya was right, though, Anya spent years traveling to different Sanctuaries to treat the children, and each time she left Dimitri behind, it made a little cut in her heart. She couldn't bring herself to just pack Dimitri off to London or wherever the orphanage children ended up. He had friends and his schooling and a life right here in Moscow. A life that was better than she could have hoped for when she was forced to give birth to him at fifteen. 

Dimitri's father, the monster who held Anya captive and impregnated her to find out if her healing abilities would be passed to her offspring, had outraged many in the abnormal and mundane Russian communities. He'd chosen her over Elenya, partly because she was the more submissive of the twins, and partly because she was so naïve; she'd gone with him willingly chasing the promise of learning more about her abilities and becoming a doctor, only to be turned into an unethical breeding experiment.

It was a huge scandal and justice had been done in the end. She'd been given sole custody of the newborn and the state had paid for a nurse, a nanny and Anya's education as a doctor. There was money, too, a lot of money the man who fathered Dimitri had been forced to pay to escape a lengthy prison sentence. 

His death two years ago, just before Dimitri's eighth birthday, put to rest Anya's fears that Augustin would someday decide he wanted his son and take him from her. She vowed the first time she held Dimitri in her arms she wouldn't let it happen. The only way that child left her breast was over her dead body.

Her son was her whole world. 

=====

Helen wasn't easily put off when she wanted something, or in this case, someone. Anya Timova was an excellent physician and she was someone the children knew and trusted. Hers was a familiar, calming presence for them in what would be a difficult transition period no matter where Helen sent them to live. 

There was no chance Helen was going to go home without securing her contract for the new Sanctuary. Elenya gave her Anya's home address, and Helen had no qualms about showing up unannounced at her door later that night. 

The knock on the modest apartment door found her face to face, once again, with an angry Anya Timova. 

Helen smiled. 

"Vhat are you doing here?" The pitch of her voice was raised in outrage that neared panic.

"Your sister was kind enough to give me your address. I wanted to speak to you once more before I have to return to the States."

"I have said all I vish to say to you, Doctor Magnus."

Helen's smile wilted a little at the corners. "You may not have anything to discuss, but I do." She did something she rarely did and rudely backed the younger, smaller woman into her own apartment with a combination of height intimidation and force of will. "I wasn't prepared this morning. We got off to an unfortunate start..."

"Coming into my home uninwited vill not improof my opinion of you," Anya huffed, but some of her temper was cooled since their first encounter, and if Helen was correct, the younger woman's dilated pupils and elevated pulse had nothing at all to do with anger and everything to do with Helen's body invading her personal space. It was an interesting reaction for a young woman to have to her, because it was a reaction born from sexual attraction. 

The door was open wider now and Helen took the opportunity to step around Anya. Looking around the apartment, her eyes were immediately drawn to a boy standing in the doorway of the kitchen, dressed in pajamas, watching her with obvious interest. 

"'Hullo," she said, causing Anya to notice the boy for the first time.

"Dimitri! Go to bed. You should haf been asleep by now." Anya looked from him to Magnus and back, obviously not comfortable with Magnus seeing the boy. 

"I vas asleep, momma, but the knock on the door voke me." 

"I'm sorry," Helen said, "I didn't know Dr. Timova didn't live alone." She stepped forward and offered the boy a hand, "Helen Magnus."

The boy's face lit with an awed smile, "you are the famous Dr. Magnus? And you are coming to see my momma? Are we going to travel with you to America?" He was practically bouncing with excitement. 

"Well, maybe eventually."

"No!" Anya's response was so sharp that Dimitri winced and looked at his mother, completely crestfallen. Anya sighed, "I need tea." She stalked into the kitchen and started filling a kettle, leaving Helen and the boy alone on the couch. 

"Not America, but London, England, at least until a larger Sanctuary can be built."

"I have never been anywhere," Dimitri pouted. "Momma travels, sometimes to the Sanctuaries to help vith births, but she says I am too young to go vith her."

Helen smiled and patted him on the arm, "we'll just see about that. I think you look quite old enough to see some of the world. How old are you, eleven?" 

"Ten."

"Ah."

A serious expression came over his face and he lowered his voice, "vhatever you do, don't ask momma how she could have a child my age vhen she is only tventy-six, she vill cry herself to sleep for a veek." His expression said this had happened many times before. "My father vas terrible to her, a wery bad kind of doctor. Momma is much better since he is dead."

Helen nodded, "your mother must love you very much, it must have been difficult to keep you with her if she was so young."

"I love Dimitri more than life." Anya returned to the living room with three mugs of steaming tea on a tray with cream and sugar. "I vant only vhat is best for him." She sat in a chair opposite their spots on the couch. 

"And what is best for all the children in the orphanage and school?"

Anya didn't hesistate. "Of course, I haf known most of them since they vere infants."

Helen smiled into her mug, because she knew she'd found the leverage she'd need to change Anya's stubborn mind. She turned her attention back to Dimitri, and asked, "do you know the children from the orphanage, Dimitri?"

"Oh, yes, Dr Magnus, I help momma at the clinic. I play with the kids and get them to take their medicine, sometimes."

"Do you want be a doctor like your mother when you grow up?"

Anya winced, and she paled, obviously thinking of the boy's father. 

"I don't think so, I vant to fly airplanes. I vill be great pilot someday." 

His certainty made Helen think of a young Henry at that age.

Helen grinned at him. "I own my own plane, and I'm always looking for good pilots. If you want, you can sit in the cockpit with me and watch..."

Anya inhaled her tea, coughing furiously. She scowled as she stood up and went into the kitchen to compose herself. When she returned, she continued to stand as far from where Helen was sitting as was possible and still be in the same room. 

"I bet you are a great help at the clinic. Do you think the kids will like having a new doctor?"

Dimitri shook his head emphatically, "oh no, the children they love momma. I don't think they vill take their shots vithout momma and me."

Anya's eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to make me feel guilty?" She was catching onto Helen's scheme, but it was working. 

"I want to give those children the best possible medical care, and that means you. If I could find another pediatrician with your level of experience with Abnormal children, that the children would trust, I wouldn't be here harassing you when you obviously don't like or have reason to trust me." 

Anya gave a little huff and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Finish your tea, Dimitri, you have school in the morning. Dr. Magnus and I need to talk." 

The emphasis was on the word 'talk', and the expression on her face made Helen want to kiss her senseless. Her frowns and scowls only made her more adorable in Helen's eyes. "Yes, we have many things we need to discuss. It was a pleasure meeting you, Dimitri, I hope I'll see more of you in the future."

"Goodnight, momma..." He stood and gave his mother a hug, and she ruffled his dark hair. His expression was earnest when he turned back to Helen. "It vas a pleasure to meet you, too, Dr Magnus." With a last glance at his mother, he disappeared down the hall.

Once he was gone, Anya's expression changed, her glare burned into Helen, fiery with indignation, "how dare you? You have no right to..."

Helen smiled, because fire was something she could work with. "Oh, you'll find I dare many of things I probably shouldn't." 

To illustrate her point, Helen stood up and put herself in front of Anya, looming over her. She leaned in until Anya was forced to lean back to get away. 

When the back of her head bumped the wall, Helen captured her lips, soft and teasing at first, then more deeply, aggressive. Her hands came up to cup the soft, flawless skin of her face while she invaded the tempting mouth. 

"You are wery forvard," Anya gasped, pushing her back a step and breaking the connection between their bodies. 

"And you enjoyed it."

"I didn't."

Helen pressed a kiss to the younger woman's cheek, and in her ear she whispered, "you most certainly did. And I did, too." 

"Vhat are you doing to me? I vas content vith my life, and you come in and destroy ewerything. Then, you show up at my door and expect me to just pack up and follow you to another country? After vhat you did? Our life is here."

Helen felt a moment's guilt for upending this woman's life, but in her heart she knew some sacrifices had to be made. "I stopped a man last week who was trafficking Abnormal children. Selling them into lives of slavery."

Anya flinched. 

"All abnormal children, not just the ones here in Moscow, need a place where they are safe from men like that. You needed a place. I'm looking to build a safe haven, but I can't do all of it myself. I need good people who understand what is at stake. You have first hand experience with being young and vulnerable."

The other woman looked down at her feet, and Helen lifted her chin and held it up until her eyes made contact. "It's hard to make big changes, and I know you don't trust me, but I swear to you that if you aren't happy, or if Dimitri isn't happy, I'll understand and you can walk away. All I'm asking is that you give it a trial period."

"If it is too much, and I say no?"

Helen smirked, "I'm going to drag you over the the couch and kiss you until you can't remember your own name, and then I'm going to take you to London myself, bound and gagged if I have to."

"You vouldn't dare!"

Instead of a verbal response, Helen kissed her, letting her lips and tongue make the case for her. Helen guided them into Anya's room where she proceeded to strip them of their clothes and wrestle the surprisingly strong Russian beauty onto the bed without ever breaking the kiss.

Anya melted for her, surrendering completely when Helen pinned her wrists to the mattress on either side of her head. There was a moment when she pulled back and wanted to say something, but Helen knew already that the woman had never been seduced by a woman, or probably a man either, since she was taken advantage of as a child. 

The trust it took to even be in a bed with Helen showed her remarkable strength. 

Helen rewarded her courage by gently and patiently guiding Anya through her first real lovemaking. She playfully taught the younger woman a dozen different ways to kiss. After the quiz on kissing, Helen moved on to showing Anya her favorite places to lick and suck and stroke. 

She brought Anya to two shuddering orgasms before they succumbed to exhaustion and she fell asleep with her cheek resting over Helen's heart. 

Magnus lay awake for an hour just holding her new, young lover and vowing to herself to let go of past mistakes and long buried losses and just allow herself to feel something for someone again, if only for one night. 

She slipped out of the bed after their second round of lovemaking in the early hours of the morning and squeezed Anya's hand, "I'd better go, before Dimitri wakes and finds me here."

"I don't want you to go," Anya admitted, looking rumpled and sated and gorgeous in the tangle of sheets. 

Helen smiled. "Oh, you can't get rid of me that easily, I'm going to buy you dinner tonight. You and Dimitri. And we will discuss the logistics of your move to London."

Anya threw a pillow at her. "Has anyone ewer told you that you are wery bossy?"

"All the time. You'll get used to it."

(Okay what do you think, should I continue this?)


End file.
